Is the Promise Still Valid?

I was engrossed in reading the materials when a knock came at the hospital room door. A glance at the clock told me visiting hours had already begun. Wondering who it might be today, I called for them to come in, and the only one who entered was Kaede.

"Huh? It's just Kaede today?"

"Nope, not just me. But since the current Shouya is meeting them for the first time, I figured I should get your okay first, so it's just me right now."

If the current me would be meeting them for the first time, they had to be someone I knew before. But who? I've already met all the relatives by now…

"Could it be a friend?"

"Yep! ♡ Shouya's and my childhood friend! ♡"

So I had a childhood friend. Given the male-to-female ratio, almost certainly a girl, but what kind of person?

When I told Kaede to let her in, she called out toward the door.

"E-Excuse me…"

The girl who entered with that nervous greeting was wearing the same uniform as Kaede. Her hair, grown to about the middle of her back, was a dazzling gold, and her wide, slightly upturned eyes made the blue of her irises stand out all the more.

Above all, she was tall. If she was around my age, middle or high school, she had to be close to 180cm.

"Come on! Introduce yourself!"

When Kaede clapped her on the back, she jolted and started speaking. Somehow it reminded me of my mother from before.

"I'm Komine Arisa. Nice to meet you…"

"She's not usually like this. It's just been a while, so she's nervous, I think."

True to Kaede's words, despite her sharp looks she was being timid, her voice thin. Then again, anyone would be flustered meeting a childhood friend in this state. I should be the one to close the distance.

"Um, Arisa-san? You don't have to be so formal with me. Could you talk the way you used to… before I lost my memory?"

When I said that, Arisa-san took a deep breath and said, "Got it."

"Then Shouya, call me Arisa, and drop the polite speech. That way I won't get all weirdly nervous either."

"Yeah. Got it, Arisa."

"Mhm, mhm. So glad the usual Arisa is back! ♡"

Kaede nodded with satisfaction.

"If it's okay, tell me about yourself, Arisa."

"Eh, me? Hmm… what I love is volleyball, I guess. I like moving my body."

"Arisa is super good at volleyball, you know! ♡"

Kaede chimed in with extra details to keep the conversation flowing.

"You're in the volleyball club?"

"Yeah."

Arisa answered, looking a little embarrassed. Sure enough, among her things was a bag that looked like it held athletic shoes.

"Arisa loves volleyball, but she loves Shouya just as much! ♡"

At Kaede's teasing, Arisa's face went bright red. Even if it was about the me before I lost my memory, getting hit with something like that out of nowhere was startling.

"I-it's not like that! That's not… well, it's not not like that, but… Kaede! Don't say weird stuff!"

"Eeh? ♡ But you've been worried about him this whole time ♡ And you're still hanging on to that childhood promise to marry Shouya, aren't you? ♡"

A marriage promise, huh… In this world, the weight of a woman getting married was no small thing.

After all, with a 1:200 male-to-female ratio, just meeting a man was hard. It was probably the kind of childish promise kids make, but she must have held it close all this time and kept her feelings for me alive. And yet the current me was a different person from before…

"I'm sorry. Um… because I lost my memory…"

"D-don't apologize! I was the one getting ahead of myself… and besides, it's not like it's a 'no' for sure yet… right? ♡"

"Eh? Um… uh…"

The sudden heated look Arisa shot me made my heart skip. But the one Arisa liked was the me from before, so…

"But the me who lost his memory is a different person from back then, isn't he…"

"Geez! Shouya, are you on about that again?! I keep telling you, you haven't changed, so it's okay!"

The moment I voiced that same old anxiety, today I got scolded for it.

"The Shouya we love hasn't gone anywhere. The gentle, slightly fretful parts of you haven't changed at all. And even if some parts have changed, that's just a new side of Shouya we get to see. People change eventually, so you can't let it bother you!"

"Yeah… got it… I'm sorry."

Even if I'd changed, it was just a new side, huh… I found myself turning Kaede's words over. Even when I fretted over trivial things, my family took it all in stride and accepted me gently.

In that case, living as myself, just as I was, was probably what would make everyone in my family happy too.

"It's not 'I'm sorry,' it's 'thank you,' isn't it? ♡"

"Yeah… thank you, always. I-I love all of you too."

I hoped at least a little of my gratitude reached my family, who cheered me up and came to visit every single day.

"S-saying stuff like that so suddenly is unfair! I love you too! ♡"

Face bright red, Kaede still answered my gratitude.

"M-more importantly, right now we're talking about Arisa!"

Kaede shoved Arisa forward as if to hide her own flushed face.

"H-hey… Kaede! Don't push me… well, anyway, that's how it is. Shouya, don't worry about a thing. I think Shouya hasn't changed either, and I'll definitely come to love the new sides of you too ♡ So… please keep being my friend from here on, okay? ♡"

Shoved forward by Kaede, Arisa held out her left hand to me.

"Yeah. Pleasure's mine, Arisa."

I clasped her outstretched hand and answered.

"Okay then, let's get back to the introductions! ♡ Shouya, isn't there anything you want to ask?"

Poking her head out from behind Arisa's shoulder, Kaede nudged her to keep going.

"Um, then… what's your position, Arisa?"

"Shouya, you know volleyball stuff… I'm an outside hitter. The so-called jack-of-all-trades. ♡"

"You know, Arisa got scouted by powerhouse schools, but she turned them all down! ♡ Why do you think that was? ♡"

"Eh? Because the teams didn't seem to be a good fit?"

Kaede had abruptly turned it into a quiz. My guess was that Arisa was strong enough to have her pick of top-tier teams.

"Nope ♡ Wrong ♡ Right ♡ Arisa? ♡"

"Eeh?! Ah, um… yeah ♡ uh… ♡"

Caught off guard by Kaede tossing the topic back to her, Arisa stammered. What could the reason possibly be?

"B-because I wouldn't be able to stay with Shouya… ♡ so I turned them all down."

I see, she'd turned them all down so she could go to the same school as me. The fact that she'd choose being with me over playing volleyball on a stronger team honestly made me happy.

"Thank you, I'm glad you feel that strongly about me. But are you really sure? Even if we ended up at different schools, I'd make time to see you…"

"Don't worry about it! ♡ Our team is strong! ♡ We're number one in the country! ♡"

Our team? Had we already decided on a high school and started practicing with them?

Seeing my confused face, Kaede threw me a lifeline.

"Um, you see, we go to a combined middle-high school, so as long as we stay on track, we'll be in the same high school."

I see. Since it was a combined middle-high school, most of the roster was already locked in.

"And, if a male student requests it, up to two girls can be put in the same class as him. For girls, you have to be at the top of the grade to end up in the same class as the boy you like, but to make it easier for the boys to come to school, the boys get to pick who shares their class too. Well, both Arisa and I have been studying ourselves to death so we can always be in the same class as Shouya, though! ♡"

So this must be one of the systems favoring male students. The materials had said that in this world, the male university enrollment rate was low and men didn't even have to work, and on top of that, school was an important venue for choosing my marriage partner. With these two as classmates, attending a school like that would be reassuring.

"Are you both in the same class as me right now too?"

"Yep. So even if it's your first time back at school in a while, we'll be with you, so don't worry! ♡"

"Then could you tell our classmates about the memory thing ahead of time? It'd be confusing for them otherwise."

"Yeah. Got it. We'll talk to them ahead of time."

"Oh, and… how many boys are at the school?"

"Roughly one per class. The numbers shift a little by grade level, but that's about all that show up, you know."

"But we're in your class, so it'll be fine! Our seats are close too!"

With this world's male-to-female ratio, there'd be maybe one boy per grade at most, so the boys must get pooled into coed schools.

While the two of them were teaching me about school, I heard another knock at the door.

"Excuse me. Visiting hours are almost over, so please start heading out～"

The one who came in to announce the end of visiting hours was Houzawa-san.

"Yes. Understood. Well then, Shouya, I'll come again tomorrow! ♡"

As Kaede said that and brought her face close to mine, a soft, sweet scent wafted over and something soft touched my cheek.

It took me a moment to register that it had been her lips.

"Ah-! K-Kaede!"

"Fufu ♡ I got so happy that we'd grown closer today, I just had to give you a smooch ♡ Arisa, you should too! ♡"

"M-me too!"

Arisa blurted, as if trying to keep up, then squeezed her eyes shut, pursed her lips, and leaned her face toward mine. The hands clenched in front of her body were gripping so hard the veins were starting to stand out.

I mean, with her eyes shut like that, wasn't she veering off in some weird direction? It couldn't be helped, so I leaned my own cheek toward Arisa's face.

There was a small chu sound, and Arisa's lips brushed my cheek. The spots where Kaede's and Arisa's lips had touched were hot and tingling. Since the two of them had gone to the trouble of kissing my cheek, I wanted to give something back.

In my previous life it would have been a bit embarrassing, but in this world it might actually be appreciated.

I told the two of them to come a little closer, then softly kissed each of them on the cheek.

"""Eh?!"""

The two girls I'd kissed, plus Houzawa-san, all let out surprised yelps. Come to think of it, I'd forgotten Houzawa-san was watching. A little embarrassing.

"W-well, you two, it's about time. Thanks for coming."

""Y-yeah ♡""

The two of them gathered their things and drifted off toward home, minds clearly elsewhere.

"S-Shouya-san! Giving women a sm-smooch on the cheek, that's not fair!"

"Eh? Not fair?"

"Ah, no! Um…"

Don't tell me even Houzawa-san felt that way about me. If she did, I'd be happy.

"W-well then, Shouya-san, please rest up until dinner!"

With that, Houzawa-san hurried out of the hospital room in a fluster.